IntenseDebate - Grandpa

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Tackling unemployment ... · 0 replies · +1 points

The news yesterday was that half of all companies in the UK are expecting to recruit new staff in the next couple of months so best let them do what business does best rather the government go into competition with them for staff.

Once that has settled down and any zombie companies have been laid to rest after the furlough scheme ends then the government can invest in the future infrastructure etc. and see what the economy needs.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Starmer’s new chapte... · 0 replies · +1 points

Can we now expect that the Marxists in the Labour party will be seeing a chance to 'Smash the system' by smashing labour's chances of getting a majority in the HoC by means of a vicious power struggle.

It might even mean that Tony Blair sees an opportunity for his second coming!

I do hope so:)

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Protecting free speech... · 2 replies · +1 points

It potentially does one positive thing and that is to remind the universities that they too are not above the law.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Protecting free speech... · 4 replies · +1 points

I note the phrase "from Marxists to Brexiteers" in the article.

Does Ms Gill deliberately imply that Brexit is at the opposite end of the political spectrum to Marxism, or was it just a clumsy use of words?

She is of course entitled to 'Freedom of speech' just as everyone one is, including everyone in or visiting a university.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - David Gauke: Ten years... · 0 replies · +1 points

There is nothing hypothetical about Covid-19, nor its easy transmission or its lethality to the vulnerable. I mentioned, the greater the virus pool the more mutations and ergo the more likely the probability that a more dangerous variant will arise. It is not hypothetical, it is the precautionary principle to protect the lives of the people in the UK.

You wrote”…. we should also quarantine people moving within the UK from high infection areas to low infection areas” We have a lockdown in force at the moment that makes it illegal to travel outside of your own area unless it is for work purposes and then only if you can’t work from home.

You also wrote “….simply stop flights coming from anywhere risky…” the government does that now. The issue here is a person can leave the UK and travel to safe country ‘A’ but then travel to country ‘B’ which is on the government’s high risk list then return to country ‘A’. If then they travel back to the UK and on entry declare that they never visited any high risk countries like country ‘B’ that is a very irresponsible or even belligerent thing to do. That type of behaviour must be deterred and have penalties proportionate to the consequences and to the intended purpose of the behaviour that is illegal. The latter is of course a matter for the judge and/or jury to decide.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - David Gauke: Ten years... · 2 replies · +1 points

The key factor in your comment are the words "Current mutations" . Mutations occur randomly and the bigger the outbreak and the longer it lasts in a given country, continent or world the more mutations there will be. Thus, the more likely a much more dangerous mutation will arise.

So if someone goes to a highly infected country with a large population of infected people the more likely it is that they will bring back a dangerous variant Covid in their body. If people lie about not going to such countries that the UK government precludes from visits and requires notification and isolation if you have been there then that is a very dangerous and irresponsible thing to do.

The cost is high to deter people going away in the first place.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Anthony Browne: Why th... · 1 reply · +1 points

These measures are compared as an international score card both by the opposition and news media(often the same thing) to beat the government with.

By all means have an internal figure that we like better but when playing cricket its best to have an internationally recognised set of rules so to with international tables of national performance.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - Anthony Browne: Why th... · 2 replies · +1 points

This is an informative and thought provoking article.

It makes me ask two questions;

Firstly; who proposed and who approved the use of the current UK measure of domestic GDP that clearly is out of step to everyone else’s measure of the same parameter?

Secondly; are there other parameters that are used to judge a nations performance where the UK uses a markedly difference definition to the international standard and why?

We need to have those questions answered and soon.

Furthermore; am I the only person in the UK that gets the impression that some of the organs of our own national governance are actively working to undermine the country's standing and value in the world?

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - David Gauke: Ten years... · 0 replies · +1 points

The point I tried to make at the end of my comment was that the Judges decide on the guilt and malice behind the criminal act and can sentence people accordingly. If it is mandatory that all offenders get a ten year sentence then extra measures must be taken to warn the travelers before they fill in the forms on their return journey and perhaps give them a chance to change their statement if it is challenged at immigration control.

3 years ago @ http://www.conservativ... - David Gauke: Ten years... · 12 replies · +1 points

For one brief moment I thought I actually agreed with Gauke , that would be a first for me.

However, on reflection I considered the consequences of people travelling to countries that had a serious covid crisis and potentially new mutations of the virus and deliberately hiding the fact from the UK authorities by lying that they had done so. If they brought a more virulent variety of covid into the country it could cause another runaway peak like the one we are just getting over.

Such an outbreak would likely result in hundreds perhaps thousands of extra deaths, another economically, socially and educationally devastating lock down. And all for what purpose? Saving time and money on having to go to an isolation hotel on their return to the UK? Perhaps it could be an even worse reason, deliberately getting infected and then spreading it within the UK deliberately.

The 10 year sentence would act as a deterrent to the lazy and inconsiderate but it might also make the reckless and deliberate misconduct that would be so very damaging to the individuals and the country as a whole deterred.

We rely on our police, crown prosecution service and judges to implement the law fairly and proportionately. So it is with this important law on covid.

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